Ipoker: The shark Vs fish ratio eats the fish

Will the fish Vs shark ratio be the final knock out for small internet poker operators? Well the reality is that this new term introduced by major poker networks including ipoker and Boss Media has already started forcing small online poker operators out of the industry as the constant fines and penalties they are being introduced are not making it a viable option for them to remain competitive and of course in business. Early this morning we had been informed that ipoker skin Tony G poker has been acquired by Party Poker which was what triggered us to research these issue and in reality go down to the bottom of all these recent acquisitions and merges taking place across the online poker industry.

Our research has brought us to the position where we are more or less convinced that the following 6 months will be a tough period for a number of small brands (skins) which are part of large networks. As explained in the Fishing for Fish post we had published in December of the year that left us the new rules posed by most major online poker networks will have a severe and most probable final ending for the majority of small online poker sites which fail to deliver inexperienced players to the tables. In the past high profile poker players which of course had a large network of supporters and fellow poker players had been witnessed to be launching internet poker rooms on major online poker networks as playgrounds for them and their friends to play, rake and of course sustain a revenue for the contributed high level of rake they generated at the tables!

What has of course changed after the implementation of the shark fish ratio at ipoker is that poker rooms are more or less obliged to maintain a mixed player pool which does not only consist of sharks which eat up the small players delivered to the network by large brands which either advertise under a dear fee or which rank highly on engines due to hard work and paid campaigns. This might sound Greek altogether but in simple language it can be best understood as following; online poker networks add up their players from a combined number of players generated and directed by participating online poker skins; e.g ipoker adds up its player network from approximately 100 skins William Hill Poker, Titan Poker e.tc. What happens is that players join the same tables but players directed from different websites see a different table design and of course sign up and benefit under a particular bonus structure which is offered from the skin they signed up from.

Now when William Hill Poker is advertising its brand heavily across online poker portals, online poker blogs and online poker directories it is only normal for the site to experience high levels of traffic being directed to the network which of course would consist of many inexperienced players that would end their after researching where to play based upon sign up bonus, offerings features or even poker rakeback; (not offered at ipoker rooms).

Well it is only reasonable that these players have cost William Hill or any other online poker rooms advertising their brand a premium before they reached the tables as William Hill paid for an advert; sounds quite clear cut till this point. Now let’s use respected figure and ex poker skin owner Tony G as the next example for the sake of explaining this clearly. Tony G is a high profile poker player which rakes thousands of dollars at the tables and he more or less has the ability to eat up any inexperienced player he finds at a table, correct? Well Yes Correct!

Well if Tony G or any other high profile poker players plays at his own poker room and rakes many hands at the tables his poker room will be compensated accordingly to the generated rake where the other fishy players which are playing on the same table but have been directed by a bigger brands advert will of course not count against revenue for the rival poker room. What this means is that big poker players can support a small business taking advantage of the fish presented by bigger brands which of course present more fish due to high expenditure marketing efforts.

So where this is leading too is that of course the big boys are complaining as they are paying for marketing which is not leaving them any profit; as there efforts are ending in other peoples back pockets! Make Sense? Well Yes! Poker networks have decided to put an end to this by introducing the popular but lethal fish Vs shark ratio. The rule which penalizes poker rooms for the high quality of their players is an attempt to even out the ratio of sharks a specific poker room presents to the tables. What this means? Small poker rooms better find a way to rank on search engines or they better start spanking money to advertise to get inexperienced players to the tables because at the end of the month they get fined for raking too much and hurting the fellow poker skins which deliver fish. In simple words there getting kicked out!

In a summary as you have probably realized; the small guys are in big trouble which is why this show will sooner or later be run by the BIG BOYS. Our conclusion is that this is the end of small online poker rooms; Now our prediction is that during the following weeks announcements will made that ipoker rooms will be shutting down, merging or selling out to bigger sites. The truth is yet to come. The show is over! Enjoy the Weekend; Play Well and if you like what we post share this story on Twitter by using the toolbar at the bottom!

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